In this episode of the CIONET Podcast, Hendrik Deckers interviews Giuseppe Ficara, Senior Director and Global Head of Data and AI at Amplifon in Milano, Italy, the nominee in the Data & AI category. Register here to find out who wins this prestigious title 👉 https://www.cionet.com/events/cionet-awards-2026-part-1!
Giuseppe is leading a transformative data and AI initiative at Amplifon, a global leader in hearing care with over 20,000 employees. Giuseppe shares the story of how Amplifon moved past foundational data challenges following a complex cloud migration to spearhead a critical AI-driven phase of data governance. The company faced a deficit in internal knowledge after integrating 16 different data platforms over four years. He explains that the transformation was essential to transition Amplifon from a reactive to a proactive data governance model.
Giuseppe emphasises the dramatic results of their AI-first approach, including a 90% reduction in the effort and cost of the data governance program by leveraging AI for the 'back office' definition work and asking human stakeholders only to review the output. Their efforts also led to a 15% reduction in cloud spending for the data ecosystem by optimizing data pipelines. Throughout the conversation,
Giuseppe reveals how Amplifon prioritised the engagement of the final stakeholder to successfully build the new capability. He discusses the three core objectives: reducing technical debt, internalising knowledge, and changing the data governance approach. He further explains how setting up the AI platform and architecture has created a long-term capability for scaling AI responsibly in compliance with regulations like the AI Act.
Don’t miss the panel where Giuseppe will share more about his AI journey, powered by our trusted partner, Splunk 👉 https://www.cionet.com/events/cionet-awards-2026-part-1!
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In this episode of the CIONET Podcast, Hendrik Deckers interviews Giuseppe Ficara, Senior Director and Global Head of Data and AI at Amplifon in Milano, Italy, the nominee in the Data & AI category. Register here to find out who wins this prestigious title 👉 https://www.cionet.com/events/cionet-awards-2026-part-1!
Giuseppe is leading a transformative data and AI initiative at Amplifon, a global leader in hearing care with over 20,000 employees. Giuseppe shares the story of how Amplifon moved past foundational data challenges following a complex cloud migration to spearhead a critical AI-driven phase of data governance. The company faced a deficit in internal knowledge after integrating 16 different data platforms over four years. He explains that the transformation was essential to transition Amplifon from a reactive to a proactive data governance model.
Giuseppe emphasises the dramatic results of their AI-first approach, including a 90% reduction in the effort and cost of the data governance program by leveraging AI for the 'back office' definition work and asking human stakeholders only to review the output. Their efforts also led to a 15% reduction in cloud spending for the data ecosystem by optimizing data pipelines. Throughout the conversation,
Giuseppe reveals how Amplifon prioritised the engagement of the final stakeholder to successfully build the new capability. He discusses the three core objectives: reducing technical debt, internalising knowledge, and changing the data governance approach. He further explains how setting up the AI platform and architecture has created a long-term capability for scaling AI responsibly in compliance with regulations like the AI Act.
Don’t miss the panel where Giuseppe will share more about his AI journey, powered by our trusted partner, Splunk 👉 https://www.cionet.com/events/cionet-awards-2026-part-1!
Gordon Thomson - VP Service Provider EMEA at Cisco - How to go platform-based?
CIONET
56 minutes 48 seconds
2 years ago
Gordon Thomson - VP Service Provider EMEA at Cisco - How to go platform-based?
“We are the plumbers of the Internet,” says Gordon Thomson, VP Service Provider EMEA at Cisco. Register now 👉 www.cionext.com/18 and join us on the 18th of October at CIONEXT | The Fabric of Future-proof Organisations, to discuss “IT plumbing” in more detail:
✅ How top Digital Leaders architect the businesses of tomorrow
✅ Their core digital platform strategy
✅ The optimal IT infrastructure setup
Cisco will be represented on the panel by Alexandra Zagury, VP, Partner Managed & as-a-Service, Global Partner Sales!
In this #LeadershipDeepDive Interview, Hendrik Deckers discussed with Gordon the principal challenges Digital Leaders encounter today. Due to economic pressures, organisations must restructure their operations. Simplification, enhancing security, reducing energy costs, and improving user experience have become not just a priority but a necessity. Gordon also elaborated on Cisco’s transformation from being product-feature-focused to becoming an outcomes-and-platform-driven organisation.
IT infrastructure currently utilises 1-2% of global electricity, and this figure is projected to rise to 3-4%, due to the proliferation of data, advancements in cloud technology, and increased utilisation of AI. Gordon discussed sustainability at Cisco, where innovation is driven by the creation of solutions that are both circular and energy-efficient, prioritising mitigating the impacts of this increasing energy consumption.
How do Cisco and BT help their clients by building a platform-based approach and integrating products? How did they reduce operational complexity? How does the company ensure data security whilst transporting 80% of internet traffic? Are AI & Automation going to erase human interaction from network observability and management entirely? Watch the full interview to find out!
CIONET
In this episode of the CIONET Podcast, Hendrik Deckers interviews Giuseppe Ficara, Senior Director and Global Head of Data and AI at Amplifon in Milano, Italy, the nominee in the Data & AI category. Register here to find out who wins this prestigious title 👉 https://www.cionet.com/events/cionet-awards-2026-part-1!
Giuseppe is leading a transformative data and AI initiative at Amplifon, a global leader in hearing care with over 20,000 employees. Giuseppe shares the story of how Amplifon moved past foundational data challenges following a complex cloud migration to spearhead a critical AI-driven phase of data governance. The company faced a deficit in internal knowledge after integrating 16 different data platforms over four years. He explains that the transformation was essential to transition Amplifon from a reactive to a proactive data governance model.
Giuseppe emphasises the dramatic results of their AI-first approach, including a 90% reduction in the effort and cost of the data governance program by leveraging AI for the 'back office' definition work and asking human stakeholders only to review the output. Their efforts also led to a 15% reduction in cloud spending for the data ecosystem by optimizing data pipelines. Throughout the conversation,
Giuseppe reveals how Amplifon prioritised the engagement of the final stakeholder to successfully build the new capability. He discusses the three core objectives: reducing technical debt, internalising knowledge, and changing the data governance approach. He further explains how setting up the AI platform and architecture has created a long-term capability for scaling AI responsibly in compliance with regulations like the AI Act.
Don’t miss the panel where Giuseppe will share more about his AI journey, powered by our trusted partner, Splunk 👉 https://www.cionet.com/events/cionet-awards-2026-part-1!
